Battle to the Death Ends in a Tie

This is what a Law & Order marathon (read: every night) looks like at our house:

I've finally tried out both my new eyeshadow palettes.  I could not get a good photo of me wearing them (why do I wash out so much?!)... OF COURSE.  However, I think my lip service will suffice.

Contestant Number 1:

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This set is amazing and I strongly endorse any purchases of it.  The shadows don't pick up very heavily on the brush, so a couple of applications can be necessary depending on the look you're going for.  Definitely for a smokey eye.  These go on true to colour; the colour you see is the colour that will stay on your face.  I love that these shadows blend well, but you can still see each individual shade.  I tend to work with a standard three colour palette: highlighter, lid base, and crease definer.  I always take the crease definer (the darkest tone) over the outside 1/3 of my lid and a little bit under the eye as well.  I like how smoothly the colours work together, but I really love seeing them individually as well because I put in the time and intention to make them look that way.

Contestant Number 2:

source (product discontinued)

I also strongly endorse this Sephora + Pantone palette.  Look at all those dreamy colours!  These are SO different from the Sephora set above.  Your brush will pick up a lot of shadow, so you might want to step lightly so to speak.  The colours look very saturated at first.  However, after an hour or so they blend together quite a bit.  I went with a soft pink look the other day and the highlighter stayed separate, but my lid base and crease definer ended up as one (beautiful) shade of pink.  The lesson I learned is that I need to wait for this to set before I call it good and that I can go with a darker shade that I might have guessed as the crease definer for a daytime look.  I love how saturated the pigment is and it stays!  It just blends a little more than I'd like.  Overall, I'm totally happy and I'm excited to play with this set more.  It sure didn't hurt that this was on sale for $17.  Unfortunately this set is sold out, but I am lusting over the latest palette from these two:

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This is called "Precious Metals" and they released it just in time for you to shimmer through the holidays.

What is your favourite eyeshadow line?  My heart still truly belongs to Chanel, but I loved MAC, Urban Decay, and Make Up Forever in high school and college when I used to really get outrageous with my make-up.  Do you have any great application tips?  I strive to continue refining my look.  

Happy Saturday, dear readers!

xoxox